Breathing Easy
by BuringBright222
Summary: Like that ever happens for the YJ and JL. Anyway, Nightwing makes his biggest mistake... can his team help him, or will his secrets be his death?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 **

**I want this to happen before my other story I'm writing happens.**

**This is a future fic, as is my next one.**

**Please enjoy!**

Nightwing rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He was in the Watchtower, his head throbbing from staring at the bright screen to long. How long had it been since he had slept? It was so hard to tell in space. Nightwing stifled a yawn and typed in some access code to something. He was just cruising through the Arkham Asylum data base when he saw Joker had escaped. Nightwing cursed.

_Stupid, lazy guards._ Nightwing thought. He found out the time, two hours ago. He made a simple plan after tracking down the Clown Prince. He didn't even leave any notice of leaving, no one would want to help him and he wanted to work alone tonight.

Just a week ago, the cave had been blown to bits, and Kaldur was still in a catatonic state of shock. Nightwing cursed Megan and her rashness. How can he fix this mistake? Artemis, well, Huntress was keeping him in the loop, but she didn't have nearly the access Kaldur did.

Nightwing packed his belt and left the Watchtower. Robin appeared just a few minutes after Nightwing left.

"Nightwing?" he called. The Bat-computer had just gotten note of Joker's escape, Robin wanted to team up with Nightwing and take down the creep, but where was Nightwing. Robin saw what had been left on the main computer, which Nightwing had left on incase someone else wanted to use it. Robin could see that Nightwing had marked the Joker problem active. That meant Nightwing was taking care of it. Robin sighed in defeat. Ever since the lost of the cave, Kaldur and Megan run-in, Nightwing had become more of a work-a-holic than Batman ever had been. Robin sighed and went back to the Bat-cave.

Next to look for Nightwing was Megan. For the past week, she had been apologizing and begging Nightwing to explain to her what had been going on. She hadn't gotten more than five minutes to talk this whole week. She was stressing out, but wouldn't tell anyone why, not even Lagon.

"Nightwing?" she called out. Captain Marvel came out of the bedroom hallway, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"He left about an hour ago according to the security cameras. Robin was looking for him too…" the deceptively older hero said.

"Thank you Billy, I mean Captain Marvel." Megan said sweetly. She looked at the main screen. It still was on the page that Nightwing had left it on. She thought it was strange that no small alarms had been spread in over an hour. She shrugged it off and looked at Billy/Captain Marvel.

"If Nightwing returns will you tell him I was looking for him?" She asked. Billy nodded. Megan than left to go home to her new housing area, which was with Batgirl.

Superboy came into the Watchtower about two hours later. It was 4:00 am.

"Nightwing!" called out the clone. This time about a third of the Justice League came out to greet the person asking for Nightwing.

"Have any of you guys seen Nightwing?" Conner asked. Plastic Man shook his head, his neck about four feet long at the moment. Megan and Lagon followed by Bumblebee, Mal and the rest of the YJ team that was left.

"No," Robin said sharply.

"We should be able to find him though." Wally said, coming back to the team with anger about his girlfriend's 'death.'

Just then, everyone's com. Units rang with a message. As far as the team knew, only the Bats could contact everyone on the team at once. When Batgirl and the rest of the new YJ came through the Zeta tubes minutes later, and Robin's com unit beeping as well, and Batman off world, only one person could have sent it.

"We have to go." Batgirl said worriedly. Everyone nodded.

"But it is a trap!" Lagon said, trying to protectively hug Megan who was pulling away at his comment. It was obviously a trap when one of the most secretive people on Earth sent out a message saying-

Help me, I'm trapped by Joker. We are in the third warehouse on the dock of Happy Harbour.-

Also, if he was trapped, why spell out words, use proper grammar, and send such a long message? The team felt rocks settle in their guts. The com units beeped again, this time with video feed. Everyone hit accept.

**Oh, a cliff-hanger!**

**Love,**

**Burning Bright!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2.**

**What oh what did they see? Hmm?**

**You may guess, but I can change it at any moment! Hahahahahahaha!**

**Anyway, I don't think I've had so many reviews for the first chapter since my first and second story! Thank You all! Love you!**

**Enjoy!**

Nightwing left the Watchtower feeling sick and uneasy. He took a few deep breaths as he appeared in the zeta tube closest to where he had tracked Joker. He even hummed as he flew over the roof-tops to calm himself. This was his first time taking on Joker alone, but he had taken down the creep so many times before, that wasn't what bothered him. Here he was again, at the cave. There was nothing there anymore but…

_It is just a place!_ Nightwing scolded himself. He focused on his mission. He arrived at the third warehouse and crept in an upper window. He spied on the scene below him. Joker and a bunch of his goons were stacking a bunch of bags of money into the back of a semi. Nightwing heard a boat whistle close by. Joker laughed loudly.

"Oh, how I wish Batty could see this!" Joker laughed. Nightwing pulled up the sleeve on his left arm to reveal skin. He took out a syringe and injected himself with some anti-Joker-venom. If the recipe was new, then the anti-venom should also work as a vaccine to help him not be affected by the noxious fumes. After sliding his sleeve back down, Nightwing got ready to attack. He positioned himself so he could drop down just behind Joker. He dropped and also threw some blunt bird-a-rangs to knock out three henchmen. Joker spun around and immediately sprayed his Joker Venom. Nightwing snickered as Joker's face twisted in anger when it didn't work.

"Come on Joker, Be original!" Nightwing taunted. Joker hissed and threw a knife. Nightwing ducked and swept Joker's feet out from under him. As Joker fell, Nightwing kicked the clown in the side so he went flying. Joker got up and started firing a firearm. Nightwing dodged the bullets, except one did hit the Kevlar suit.

_Damn, that will probably bruise._ Nightwing thought. When he was three yards away from Joker, Nightwing threw more bird-a-rangs. These were sharp and pinned Joker to the wall. Joker gaped.

"Who are you?" Joker said. Nightwing stood up and smiled. He threw back his head and laughed his signature cackle that hadn't resounded in a while. Anyone who heard it felt their spines tingle. Non guards ran in because Nightwing had already taken them out. Joker laughed along with Nightwing. Nightwing stopped and just sneered at the maniac in front of him.

"You are a freak, Joker. I don't know how you keep getting out of Arkham, but someday I'll laugh as you are too old and crippled to even lift your sick head." Nightwing sneered. Nightwing felt so much anger towards this freak. This was the very freak that had caused Jason to die the first time. When Jason had come back, Joker had made Jason hurt both Batman and Dick, who had been Robin at the time. Dick Grayson had run into the clown a few times since then, but now, they were alone, and the very overworked, angry vigilante had a chance at revenge. Nightwing sighed in contentment. He knew he shouldn't, and probably wouldn't but…

"Oh, you're Boy Blunder!" Joker cackled. Nightwing tensed. There was nothing this clown could do now. Nightwing was about to call the police when.

"Hehe." Nightwing coughed too.

_What?_

"Hehe, oh Boy Blunder, I guess I can't call you that anymore can I? Well, what do you go by now?" Joker asked.

_Damn! Why isn't the antidote working? This situation just got disastrous, heavy on the dis._ Nightwing thought.

"Joker, I'm a little whelmed that you didn't recognize me at first sight! I thought the scars would be a big reminder. Hahaha." Nightwing swallowed the giggles he felt as anger bubbled over in his small, lithe body. Then more laughter followed. Nightwing's body convulsed and he fell over. He watched in horror as a green tinted body stepped into the warehouse and freed Joker.

"Joker, I believe they call this one Nightwing." Poison Ivy said with her usual seductive tone. Nightwing tried to get air in between the gut wrenching laughs.

"Hmmm, Nightwing… Night…Why did you choose such a funny name?" Joker asked. Nightwing couldn't stop laughing now. He felt himself suffocating on his own laugh. His lungs squeezed, his heart pounded, each laugh sounded more and more like a wheeze. Just as the darkness around his eyes seemed permanent, Nightwing felt an injection in his neck. The painful laughing stopped, but the darkness stayed and Nightwing was unconscious.

When Robin had received the message, he wanted to strangle himself. His brother figure was in trouble, and the newest Robin _knew_ that Joker was involved. Then Babs had come in, her face held in a stiff façade of calm. Her whole aura showed her worry, which wasn't helping Robin. Then of course the video came. Everyone who received it just stared at the screen with varying degrees of shock. Conner crushed his com unit into metallic crumbs. Robin replayed the video; he just had a hard time processing what he saw.

Nightwing was hanging upside down, suspended by vines around his ankles. Joker was skipping around Nightwing and every now and than shoving a knife into the area that Nightwing's belt usually rested. Robin noticed Joker was wearing Nightwing's infamous belt. Blood and knives made a disgustingly beautiful belt around Nightwing's slim waist. Blood also had flowed down and dripped off Nightwing's shoulders. Joker turned to the camera on the video.

"Hi-ya kiddies!" Yelled the subject of so many of Tim's nightmares.

"I just thought you might want to know where your little, grown-up Robin is! I have a lovely deal though… You guys give me some info… and I'll let Night-birdie, or whatever, live!" Joker laughed and threw one last knife into Nightwing's waist, were it finished the belt. Joker laughed. That of course, was when Nightwing came back to consciousness.

"Shut-up Joker." Came a groggy reply. Robin noted that Nightwing must have been drugged. He shivered thinking about how painful it must feel to wake up in the situation Nightwing was in now. Joker turned to look at Nightwing.

"Oh! Birdie Beauty is awake!" Joker clapped his hands, apparently forgetting the video. Robin then watched as Nightwing yanked out a knife from his waist, and cut the vines. As he flipped himself, the vine whipped down and grabbed Nightwing. Blood splattered the screen as Nightwing disappeared from the screen. Joker chased after him laughing, while Poison Ivy went to look into the camera.

"Anyway, if you want your leader to live and so on… Just give us a flashdrive with the zeta tube access codes." Ivy sounded bored. The video cut feed, just as a more blood sprayed, from the direction where Nightwing and Joker were.

"Why do you have to watch that again!" Megan asked. Her voice was rising on hysterics. No doubt she was remembering the last time, that she knew of, that Nightwing had run into Joker.

"Why can't Nightiwng save himself?" Lagon asked. Robin turned on him in an instant, which was strange since the two were pretty good friends.

"Are you an idiot! Would you just hang around when someone stabbed you? He was drugged! We don't know with what, so we need to get him in a safe are to make sure there aren't any permanent effects!" Red Arrow and Arsenal entered the room, both had there com units, and RA looked pissed.

"Why did Arsenal and I just get a bogus message from Nightwing?" he asked.

"I think Joker just got his hands on Nightwing's com unit." Lagon said with a huff.

"Well, then how do you explain the video?" Robin demanded. Lagon shrugged.

"Why don't we take a small team of four to check out the situation…" Arsenal was cut off when Batgirl's com went off.

"Don't bother with the past few messages, situation is under control. Nightwing." She read out loud. She looked up.

"See, he is fine." Lagon said. Megan was starting to think Lagon was terrified of Jokre.

"I'll just hack the com to show us a video feed." Batgirl said. It was silent as Batgirl hooked the com to the main computer. After about a minute, the video feed was up. The image on the screen was a green tinted hip with a very short leaf skirt. Arsenal whistled. RA hit him.

"Hey!"

"Don't admire the villainesses."

"What about…" RA hit Arsenal again. The video's sound was turned up.

"So, do you think they'll buy it?" Ivy's tone was still seductive.

"You typed the message, why don't you know? Why couldn't I have done it this time?" Joker whined, and then he laughed. The low camera turned to show the bottom of security camera footages.

"You wouldn't know how to type a normal message Joker." Ivy yawned.

"Do you think he'll find us here?" she asked. Joker laughed again.

"Eh, once he recovers from those poisons the knives were soaked in, probably. The injection you hit him with just before we fled, what was it?" Joker asked. The team watched as the camera was pulled off of Joker's waist and laid down on the table, showing the two psychos. Joker had a nasty cut on his forehead, and ivy was nursing some plants and her own hand.

"My newest concoction should have him trying to figure out the difference between his eyes and his ears. I mixed it with some illegal drugs you can get off normal people." Ivy's eyes glinted evilly.

"Oh? Like what?" Joker's laugh was low.

"A fun little thing called Angel's dust…" Ivy trailed off. "Is that him?" Joker left the camera's view.

"Yes!" insane laughter resounded through the high-grade speakers. "Ready dear?" Joker asked, feigning a gentleman's disposition.

"Oh, I am ready to get my revenge! I will destroy the damn boy who killed Augu!"

"Who?"

"My master plant! He and that Martian girl will suffer!" Ivy hissed. The two stepped out of the room, leaving the com unit on the table.

"Finally some good luck." Muttered Batgirl.

'How?" Megan asked. Her voice was high with worry.

"Batgirl, we just learned that there is a high possibility that Nightwing has a deadly drug in his system! How is this good luck?" Arsenal demanded. Batgirl glared at him.

"They left the com unit, which I can use to view the security tapes!"

"Don't bother." Conner said. All eyes turned to him. "Let's just send a team. Robin, Arsenal, Red Arrow, Megan, and myself." Conner looked around. "Any disagreements?"

"Yes." Lagon and Batgirl said. Conner raised an eyebrow.

"What?" he asked. Batgirl looked at the team going, and understanding what plan Conner had come up with, just shook her head. Lagon fumed, but did the same. In the order of leaders, Conner was just after Nightwing, then it was Mal Duncan. The chosen ones got ready to go.

**Oh!**

**I hope this story is easy to follow…**

**Next chapter soon!**

**Love,**

**Burning Bright**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3!**

**I hope you all…**

**ENJOY!**

Nightwing first woke with an ache behind his eyes. His lower abdomen area burned.

_Damn… what happened?_ Thought the groggy hero. Nightwing then noticed he was upside down. Just as he made to move, a loud annoying voice pierced into his brain, and a sharp pain erupted from his waist.

_Oh, he did not._ Nightwing groaned. He could defiantly feel it now. The missing weight of his belt, replaced with the burning sensation of knives… Joker was a sick one.

'Shut up Joker." Nightwing said. He heard his words slurred, and decided he had been knocked out with some sort of chemical. He pulled out a knife from his waist, just as a drop of blood fell on his face. As he fell, the vine snapped down and threw him against the wall. He felt the knives go in a little deeper, threatening to cause serious damage. He had dropped the one he pulled out, so he had to remove another one. Joker tackled him as he pulled out the knife, causing blood to spray. Nightwing kicked joker off, and threw the knife at his opponents face. The knife sliced just under the cheek bone. Joker released a strange noise that was a mix of a laugh and a scream. Nightwing winced. He wasn't sure, but he thought he had seen the sound whack him.

_What the hell?_

Ivy jumped out and tried to wrap a vine around Nightwing again. Nightwing threw another knife, this one pinned Ivy's hand to her vine. She screamed angrily.

"MY BABIES! NOT AGAIN YOU SON OF A…" She was cut off when a rock hit her in the head. The vines fell over with Ivy knocked out. Joker laughed. Nightwing was about to charge him, when he stumbled and felt the world do a 360 around him.

"Later Black Birdie!" Joker laughed, carrying Ivy away. Nightwing tried to stand and chase them, but the world changed before his eyes. The shadows became green, and he was suddenly on the ceiling. Nightwing leaned against the wall, but he couldn't see it. He felt unbelievable happiness, and he just wanted to wallow in it. He laughed. This was amazing! Nightwing looked around, and that is when the horror began. The shadows came out and reached for him, turning into familiar figures…

"Mami?" Whispered Nightwing. The shadowy figure smiled as she embraced Nightwing. Nightwing felt hands tighten around his throat, and saw the gruesome figure of his father. He looked back at what he thought was his mother and almost screamed. The shadows were now demons, grabbing at Nightwing and choking him.

"La de pe mine!" Nightwing yelled. He forced himself to stand and stumbled away, the world zooming. Nightwing tried to run, but he kept falling. Eventually, he found himself in large room and so many creatures were on him he fell over. He saw those who he had failed to save, they choked clawed at him.

"Ajutor! Batman!" Nightwing screamed. He felt hands grabbing him. His body convulsed and the floor became the half-decomposed remains of people Nightwing could recognize.

"No!" Nightwing tried to fight off the hands dragging him down. He felt something warp around his body, and heard, though it seemed more like he was seeing the sound waves, cries of protest.

"Ajutor!" Nightwing saw a crevice with fires leaping out. He lost all feeling after that. His vision was distorted, some thing looked familiar, but mostly he just saw the dead try to get their revenge on him. He started to shiver; Nightwing had lost all connection to reality.

Megan had driven the bio-ship to Happy Harbor's port warehouses. They landed on the roof just in time to see vines burst out of the windows. They quickly leapt out onto the roof.

"Supey, rip off the roof!" Robin yelled. His worry had sort of caused him to take over the situation.

"Got you." Conner replied. The aluminum roofing came off in a four by five foot strip. The group of teens dropped in. They found Nightwing almost immediately. It helped that Joker and Ivy were whooping and cheering. When they came to see, they saw Nightwing go flying across the room and hit the cement wall with his shoulder. It was immediately obvious he was drugged because he just sat up and curled into a ball. Superboy could hear the muttering that he had learned Nightwing did in times of great stress.

"Oh No." Robin muttered.

"His mind isn't… I can't understand it. Everything is so messed up." Megan whispered.

"Damn Joker, Damn Ivy." RA growled. Arsenal felt a strange attachment to the dark clad hero who was being beaten mercilessly by the hot villainess and the clown.

Superboy led the rescue mission by jumping right in front of Joker just before the clown could hit Nightwing with his crowbar. Joker looked surprised and began to laugh. He was cut off when Superboy knocked him out with one well aimed punch. Ivy wasn't as easy.

Ivy saw Joker go flying and turned to run away. She was stopped by a man in red with a metal arm.

"Hey, Babe, let's make this easy." Arsenal said. Ivy had and idea.

"Why, what can I do for you?" Ivy said, pushing herself against the handsome man.

"Why don't you never touch one of my friends again?" The original Roy asked, bashing his bow over Ivy's head. She fell with a surprised look. That is when a bunch of henchmen in clown suits came running out firing their guns. It took about half-an-hour to take everyone out. They chained the villains to a light post and went back to help Nightwing. They found him in a ball muttering.\

"What is he saying Robin?" Conner asked.

"Um, my knowledge of this language is limited, but it is something about being really sorry and t o get off of him. He didn't do anything, begging for forgiveness." Robin looked confused.

"What do we do with him?" RA asked. Arsenal shrugged.

"Um, does Joker or Ivy have and antidote?" Megan asked. RA held up a case.

"A whole case full. Problem is I don't know which one will help him. If he really does have some underground drug in his system, we need to find out which antidote it is quick."

"Batgirl?"

"She should be able to find out." Robin assured. They looked back to were Nightwing had been just a moment before.

"Where is he?" Conner yelled.

"How does he do the ninja thing in this state?" RA demanded. Robin shrugged.

"Oh, I found him!" Megan said, she pointed to the other side of the street. Nightwing had sat down and was watching the stars. The recon team came up to him.

"Hey, Nightwing… want to go home?" Robin asked. Nightwing nodded. "Um, let's go now?" Nightwing frowned.

"You can't see the sun." Nightwing said. Robin looked back at his superiors.

"Yeah, it is nighttime."

"Stupid sun."

"Hehe, Nightwing, let's go now!" Robin was getting worried. Every second without treatment was dangerous for Nightwing.

"Tell the sun it shouldn't slack." That was when Robin realized Nightwing was speaking Japanese.

"Um, Nightwing, the sun doesn't show itself at night." Robin explained. Nightwing looked at him.

"I know." It was Spanish this time.

"Yeah, well, if you come with us… we'll show you the sun!" Robin said happily. The heroes who didn't speak the languages just raised their eyebrows in confusion. Robin had only responded in English, so they heard half the conversation. Nightwing nodded but didn't move, he just fell over.

"Nightwing!" Robin exclaimed, catching his brother.

"It's ok! He is still conscious, just his muscles are completely relaxed, I don't think he has a clue what is happening…" Megan said. She thought this might be funny if someone's life wasn't at stake. Robin nodded as Conner picked up Nightwing and carried the totally limp body back to the ship.

When the team came returned to the Watchtower, Nightwing had started rambling in the unknown language.

"Nightwing?" Batgirl looked at the group returning curiously. Conner laid Nightwing on the couch and Nightwing said cookies and went back to his rambling.

"What… um, What happened?" Batgirl asked.

"Well, besides the need for a doctor… he is seriously drugged up." Robin said. "Just carrying him jostled some broken ribs."

"I'll start treating him now." Karen/Bumblebee said. She was shocked at the amount of blood there was, and lack of response from her injured teammate. She had some pain relievers in her hand, but she didn't use them. There was too much chance of serious drug overdose.

Nightwing had five cracked ribs and two broken ones. He had a concussion and a sprained wrist. His left knee was twisted and not to mention the series of cuts around his waist. Karen jumped when a black belt fell next to her.

"This is his, I believe." Arsenal said. Then the hero walked over to his clone. It was strange talking to Arsenal, he was exactly like RA but he wasn't the same at all. Karen smiled. She knew Arsenal had felt the need to help Nightwing some way just like everyone else.

Karen looked at Nightwing's face and felt her heart drop. She had heard the story of the time Joker and traced Nightwing's mask on his face, and she saw he had done it again. The amount of blood was disconcerting, but there was also hope that the blood that had drained out would quicken Nightwing's recovery since it emptied his body of the toxins. Just then, Wally and Impulse entered.

"HOWISHE?HOWISHE?HOVEYOUGUYSGOTHIM?ISHEGOINGTOLIVE?" the two yelled over and over again.

"Please be quiet!" Karen said. Wally and Impulse ran over to the couch.

"Nightwing?" Wally said. Karen smiled at Wally's concern.

"He'll be fine. I've stitched him up. I just hope whatever the drug was doesn't cause permanent effects." Wally nodded his head so fast Karen thought it would fall off. The rest of the YJ team's members drifted in and out. Eventually, Nightwing was moved into Batman's room on the Watchtower.

Robin, Wally, Batgirl, RA and Arsenal never left Nightwing's side unless forced to go eat. The next day, or about 29 hours later, Nightwing awoke. He stumbled out of the room and head to the kitchen. When he entered, everyone stopped and stared.

"God, is there anything to eat?" Nightwing slurred. He felt horrible, but couldn't tell why.

"You shouldn't be walking." Batgirl said, recovering first. Megan brought Nightwing fresh pancakes while Conner forced Nightwing to sit.

"Um, ok. What happened last night anyway?" Nightwing asked as he started to eat. Nightwing had been magically changed into a white tank top and black sweat pants by Zatanna. Arsenal told Nightwing everything, with Robin throwing in forgotten details.

"I called the sun stupid?" Nightwing said, snickering. Robin smiled and nodded.

"Gosh, sorry for the scare guys." Nightwing said. Wally ran into the room and tackled Nightwing from behind.

"Iamsogladyouareok!" Wally said quickly. Nightwing choked on the bite of pancake he was eating.

"Wally!" Batgirl scolded. Nightwing laughed. "Oh yeah, Nightwing can you remember anything from being O.D?" Batgirl asked. Nightwing gave her a skeptical look. "Hey, I need some inside info for my medical paper due next week." Nightiwng laughed.

"Nope. I just know that there were a lot of colors and people." Nightwing frown but shrugged whatever he had been thinking off. "Anyway, I need to write a report." Nightwing stood up, but got forced down by Conner again. "What?" he demanded.

"Nightwing, you're over-working yourself. Take some recovery time." Megan said. Nightwing sighed.

"I will, after I finish my report." Nightwing ducked under Conner and walked out. When he was far enough away, he used the wall to support himself. Arsenal appeared next to him.

"Hey, go see Karen before you write your report ok?" Nightwing nodded, and Arsenal helped the tired hero to the medical wing.

**A week later**

Nightwing was on his final day of the week long vacation his team had forced him on. He laughed to himself as he returned to the Watchtower. No one was there so Nightwing went to the main computer to talk to someone.

"Hey Nightwing!" Robin called before Nightwing could log on.

"What is it?" Nightwing asked.

"Penguin is causing trouble again; want to do this one together?" Robin asked, tossing a freshly pack, black utility belt to Nightwing. Nightwing smiled.

"Sure." The two walked out, just before Megan could come in and asked Nightwing to explain.

"I always miss him!" she muttered. She smiled shrugged and went t bake some cookies.

**Hey!**

**Well, this ended awkwardly…**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it! I have a one shot coming up! I hope you all look for it!**

**Oh, **

**La de pe mine – get off of me!**

**I have no idea how a drugged/O.D. person acts or recovers…**

**See you all next time!**

**Love,**

**Burning Bright**


End file.
